BJP PROPS UP LAST TRIPURA KING AS ICON

AGARTALA: At a time when the BJP is facing criticism for imposing ‘mainstream’ Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh ideologue Deendayal Upadhyaya on Assam, the party’s Tripura unit has decided to focus on a local royal icon.

On Saturday, the BJP observed the 110th birth anniversary of Tripura’s ruler Bir Bikram Kishore Debbarman of the Manikya dynasty. With an eye on the 2018 assembly polls, the party conveyed it was trying to revive the royal history “distorted” during 24 years of Marxist rule and said efforts were on to honour King Bir Bikram with a posthumous Bharat Ratna.

The reign of the Manikya dynasty started with Ratna Manikya in 1280 and ended with Bir Bikram in 1947. His descendents have been titular, and their royal gloss began fading since the first Communist government was formed in Tripura in 1978. Present king Pradyot Manikya is a Congress leader.

Sunil Deodhar, the BJP’s state in charge, said the party’s central leadership has been told to award Bharat Ratna to Bir Bikram posthumously.

“We have also placed a demand for naming a road in Delhi after him since every road there is dedicated to big personalities,” he said, adding that BJP celebrated the king’s birth anniversary across 3,170 booths.

The BJP has also sought naming Agartala Airport after the king and placing his statue in the airport complex. Manik Sarkar’s government has passed a resolution in the assembly to name the airport after Nobel laureate Rabindranath Tagore.

The BJP also underlined Bir Bikram’s role in promoting education by building many schools.